|
|
 |
 |
HOME
Where it all begins!
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
INSIDECOSTARICA.COM
|
COSTA RICA NEWS
|
Monday 22 November 2010 |
 |
|
|
|
Where Is
The COHA
In The
Costa
Rica -
Nicaragua
Conflict?
Responding
to
emails
from
readers
on their
silence
on the
recent
conflict
between
Costa
Rica and
Nicaragua,
the
Council
on
Hemispheric
Affairs
(COHA) -
a
nonprofit,
tax-exempt
independent
research
and
information
organization,
established
to
promote
the
common
interests
of the
hemisphere
- by
saying
its
director
Larry
Birns
has been
active
behind
the
scenes,
his
latest a
20-minute
interview
with BBC
on the
subject,
and a
more
in-depth
analysis
of the
situation
along
the Rio
San Juan
is to be
published
on the
COHA
website
within a
matter
of days.
In the
press
released,
the COHA
says "it
is clear
that the
dispute
has
become a
prominent
campaign
vehicle
designed
to
fortify
Nicaraguan
President
Daniel
Ortega’s
shifting
popularity
at home.
The
opportunity
to rally
the
Nicaraguan
people
around a
nationalist
cause
rather
than
regional
harmony
may have
been too
much for
the
Sandinista
leader
to
resist.
The COHA
continues
with:
"at this
point,
Nicaragua
remains
obdurate
that the
status
quo is
more
advantageous
to its
national
interest
than the
principles
of
conciliation
and
mediation.
For her
part,
Costa
Rica’s
President
Laura
Chinchilla
is under
pressure
to use
the
dispute
to prove
herself
as
decisive
a leader
as her
cagey
and
always
ambitious
predecessor
Óscar
Arias.
Given
each
leader’s
personal
stake in
the
conflict,
the
prospects
for a
speedy
resolution
appear
meager."
While
the COHA
has been
silent
in all
this,
Costa
Rica has
looked
to the
OAS to
resolve
the
dispute,
and on
Thursday
filing a
suit
with the
International
Court of
Justice
at The
Hague.
Ortega
has
countered
with the
threat
to pull
out of
the OAS
altogether
and that
Nicaragua
will
file its
own
action
with the
International
Court.
But
neither
have
looked
at the
COHA.
Costa
Rica,
has gone
before
the
international
community,
taking
the
position
that
Nicaragua
invaded
its
territory
and in
so doing
has
caused -
and
continues
to cause
-
environmental
damage
with the
dredging
of the
San Juan
river
and the
construction
of an
artificial
canal on
Costa
Rican
territory.
Nicaragua,
on the
other
hand,
has
taken
its
action
to the
people,
telling
them of
Costa
Rica's
expansionism
action
to take
over
Nicaraguan
territory,
more
important
the San
Juan
river.
If
nothing
more
than a
mediator,
the COHA
has been
very
influential
in the
dispute,
even
though
the
conflict
is a
border
dispute
that
neither
the COHA
or the
OAS has
jurisdiction,
both
bodies
are
supposed
to
mediate
and
bring
the
parties
to the
table to
dialogue.
Such has
not
occurred.
At the
heart of
the
problem
is a
more
than 100
year old
feud
between
the
governments
- not
necessarily
the
people -
of the
two
countries
over the
ownership
and
navigational
rights
of the
border
river.
In July
2009,
the
International
Court
settled
an
almost
10 year
legal action
filed by
Costa
Rica and
a
century
old
argument,
that the
river
belongs
to
Nicaragua
and
Costa
Rica has
navigational
rights
as
stated
in the Jeréz-Cañas
treaty
signed
in 1858.
For its
part,
Costa
Rica has
never
publicly made
claim to
the
river as
the
Nicaraguans
charge,
an
argument
used
again
and
again by
various
Nicaraguan
governments
and
including
the current
and past
Ortega.
The
current
dispute
in fact
is over
a
mosquito
infested
piece of
land
called
Isla
Calero
on the
south
side of
the
river
that
Costa
Rica
claims,
based on
the
treaty
and
official
maps
filed by
Nicaragua
in the
International
Court,
the
island
is in
Costa
Rican
territory.
However,
Ortega
said
that the
river
should
be
restored
to its
"historic"
and
thus,
making
use of
Google
Maps,
claims
it is
theirs
and as
such has
put
military
soldiers
who set
up camp
on the
small
island
at the
mouth of
the
river in
the
Caribbean.
Using
this
argument
- since
Google
Maps has
taken
responsibility
for the
error
and is
amending
its
Google
Maps -
Ortega
is using
the
argument
to rally
the
support
of the
people,
while
Costa
Rica
rallies
the
support
of the
international
community.
The same
problem,
two
different
approaches.
But,
going
back to
the
organizations
like the
OAS
which
has been
far less
than
effective
to
resolve
the
conflict
with
Nicaragua's
refusal
to take
orders
and the
COHA,
the
conflict
is bound
to go on
for
years,
four at
least,
the time
it takes
for the
International
Court to
hear the
case.
In the
meantime,
Ortega
might
get
re-elected,
Chinchilla
will be
out of
office,
leaving
it to a
new
president
to deal
with
Ortega,
sorry,
Nicaragua.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
| |
Costa Rica's Daily English News
Source
Apdo. 2133-1000, San José, Costa
Rica
Tel: (506) 2231 3205 / (506) 8399
9642
Fax: (506) 2232 6337
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Insidecostarica is an independent news media
portal featuring news of Costa Rica, Central
America, Latin America and other wonderful
and weir stuff. External links are
provided for reference purposes.
Insidecostarica.com is not responsible for
the content of the external sites.
If you need more information or to provide
recommendations, write to
[email protected]
|
|
|
|
|
Join
our Facebook page